D is for Daydreams

I recently read somewhere (completely unreliable) that J.K. Rowling once got fired from a job for daydreaming too much. It’s probably untrue, but I liked it. Made me feel like we have something in common.

No, I haven’t been fired for it, but I spend way too much time daydreaming. And I don’t just mean by The Man’s* standards. I’m constantly forgetting what I was supposed to be doing because my imagination has run off again, leading me away from the real world in the most wonderful and exciting ways. I eventually find my way back, but not always before I’ve burned supper or forgotten that I was supposed to move the laundry over to the dryer three hours ago.

Some writers call it research. I’m not sure I can even do that when most of it will never make it into a story. Oh, sure, letting my mind wander has taken me to wonderful places and introduced me to characters who I have written about. The voices in my head have provided random bits of dialogue that have showed up in stories. But there are worlds, plots, and people in my head who are never going to step out of it, either because it’s not a genre I care to write, the material’s a little too close to my heart, or the story just doesn’t have the kind of legs it needs to survive being exposed to the world.

I think that’s okay, too. Call it rehearsal. Call it exercise for that imagination muscle, or letting my muse stretch his legs. Call it being open to possibilities.

Whatever you call it, I think I’m going to stick with it. It makes me happy, and I think that’s worth burning the occasional pancake for.

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About Kate Sparkes

Kate Sparkes was born in Hamilton, Ontario, but now resides in Newfoundland, where she tries not to talk too much about the dragons she sees in the fog. She lives with a Mountie, two kids who take turns playing Jeckyll and Hyde, two cats, an intentional boxer and an accidental chihuahua. She's the author of the bestselling Bound Trilogy (mature YA Fantasy).
www.katesparkes.com
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19 responses to “D is for Daydreams”

I still call it research. Or, if you’d rather, I’ll return to my artistic roots and call it sketching instead. Artists sketch all the time. Quick little drawings, pieces of things, that will never make it into a finished work. They do studies–multiple drawings of eyes, or fingers, or tiny little details. That’s all you’re doing. Sketching. Keeping the brain limber. Examining details of things that you’ll need for the whole.

I was accused of daydreaming too much as a child. I call it exercising the imagination. When I am writing, I scorch pots on the stove and ignore the laundry until it sours and has to be washed again. Those are the perils of being a writer. Sometimes I also forget to eat. It is not quite the same as going into a burning building to rescue or getting shot during a domestic deescalation, but then it is.

I often burn dinner too. The saying in my house is, “if it ain’t burnt, it ain’t Mama’s!” And don’t get me started on how many times I have to rewash or fluff a load of laundry because I’ve forgotten about it and it’s turned sour or wrinkled. It’s amazing how quickly time passes when you’re daydreaming. 🙂

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